How ‘sick and dangerous’ rape plotters were caught
THEY plotted together to lure a young woman to the home where she would be raped. But predators Farouk Aremu and Christopher Genendo are now behind bars for their calculated and callous crimes.
The pair were locked up for a total of 19 years after a judge heard how Aremu arranged for the victim to come to Genendo’s Newcastle home, then watched as his friend raped her.
A jury convicted Genendo of rape, and Aremu of the unusual offence of aiding and abetting a rape.
Today the detective who put them behind bars has revealed how the lying predatory pair were brought to justice.
And Det Sgt Alan Gibbons, of Northumbria Police, has praised the brave victim whose actions may have stopped the vile duo striking again.
He said: “For two people to come up with this sort of idea is not right at all. To inflict that sort of trauma and pain on another person and to plan together to do it, it’s sick and it’s dangerous.”
“The victim has been incredible. If this did go unreported and they felt like they had got away with it, what’s to stop them from carrying it out again? It’s not normal. They must have known that they shared the same idea when it comes to that sort of thing.”
Det Sgt Gibbons, of the rape investigation team, explained how the 22-year-old victim had arranged to travel from her home in the Sunderland area, to meet Aremu on the night she was attacked, in May 2018.
But she believed the Newcastle property she was going to was Aremu’s home, not the home of his friend Genendo, who she had never met.
“She had gone there that night to meet Aremu,” Det Sgt Gibbons explained. As she was travelling over the messages show it maybe wasn’t all as planned. She initially thought she was meeting him at his house. Then as she was travelling over it was established she was meeting him at a friend’s house.”
Det Sgt Gibbons said the victim was met at a nearby Metro Station by Aremu who then took her to the property. Newcastle Crown Court heard how once inside the property the woman had consensual sex with 24-year-old Aremu.
But Genendo, 22, then entered the room and raped her, with Aremu watching on allowing it to happen.
“After the incident happened she managed to get out the house. She rang a friend who picked her up and they walked into Southwick Police Station in the early hours of the morning,” Det Sgt Gibbons explained.
The victim was able to tell police Aremu’s name and gave details of the location where she was attacked. But she had no idea who Genendo was.
“Initially her view was that she was raped by a second unknown male,” said Det Sgt Gibbons. “She had never met him before, and she was there in that situation with Aremu. Then a second man was there.”
Det Sgt Gibbons explained it was imperative that both suspects were interviewed at the same time to prevent them talking to one another. So police officers faced a race against time to identify Genendo and get the two men into custody.
Police arrested Aremu first, initially on suspicion of assisting an offender. But when interviewed he refused to give his friend’s name.
“It was tricky initially because Aremu was arrested and when he was first interviewed he wouldn’t give his name,” he said.
“He refused to identify him, giving the excuse that there would be some sort of risk if he did, which was a lie.
“It was through other channels that we identified him. It was a combination of interrogating Aremu’s mobile phone and doing checks with the local authority on who was a tenant at that address.”
Genendo was then brought in for interview.
“They were both in custody at the same time,” said Det Sgt Gibbons. “Then it was a case of working back through all their interviews, which were done in quite significant detail.”
Detectives then analysed mobile phone data to try and establish if the rape had been planned.
And Det Sgt Gibbons said the phones of both attackers and victims can now provide crucial evidence in these kind of cases, which previously often came down to one person’s word against another’s.
“Everything is done through mobile phones these days,” said Det Sgt Gibbons. “It’s not just the occasional text message sent from a Nokia these days, your whole life is on your phone. And it’s independent evidence to a degree.
“We are looking at a level of planning. You could see in the messages that night that there was a degree of that going on. It’s probably not the most sophisticated operation that they have put together, but nevertheless they have obviously got an idea and think they will get away with it.
“This won’t be the first time that topic has ever arisen. She had agreed to have consensual sex with Aremu. But had she known another man was present she wouldn’t have agreed to that consent.”
Genendo, of Melbourne Court, Newcastle, was eventually charged with rape and Aremu, of Fourstones Close, Kenton was charged with aiding and abetting a rape.
Det Sgt Gibbons said: “The aiding and abetting charge is an unusual one. I have worked in this department for six years now and it is the first time I have known it to come about. Thankfully it is a rare aspect of this type of offending.”
The pair both pleaded not guilty but a jury at Newcastle Crown Court convicted both during a trial earlier this year.
And Det Sgt Gibbons said the jury saw through their lies. He said: “Normally these offences would be two people in a private dwelling with no witnesses, no cameras and no CCTV and forensics might not be relevant. This is why these are difficult offences to convict. But when you have got a third person there that changes.
“These two people need to give the same stories. As it came about they both couldn’t have been telling the truth.
“The jury didn’t believe either of them. Their versions of events were riddled with lies.”